There is something gothic in the way this pub towers over the low-level business units surrounding it, the pub’s name, high up, broadcasts across the Sainsbury’s car park to the Paddington Rail Crash memorial stone. The first thing I googled about this bouzer was the phrase “Gruddy boozer with sticky carpets, undead locals and a telly blaring away. Sinister”. It was a must for Pub 8.
It lived up to this googled rep quite well, though i don’t recall carpet underfoot. It’s the sort of pub that has a memory of once having had a sawdust and straw floor. There was only a sprinkling of regulars, it felt decidedly empty, and there was (for me) a distinct lack of atmosphere. I don’t remember staying here very long. Look, it was a long pub crawl. God knows who was on stage in Hyde Park at this point – maybe the Spice Girls had reformed.
Much as I’d looked forward to trying the place out, and nice though it might be to try again, it did not match the day’s mood well. This meant that the upside to my earlier ineptness at losing a pub (one i couldn’t remember ever passing to be honest) meant that the finale in Pub 8 had to be had across the Harrow Road…
PUB 8 RATING: 6 (a quiet spot for ale drinking. YMMV – your memory may vary)